MP: This is a long time coming. I’ve been talking to Heather about you for about eighteen months now. It finally happens.

EB: That’s great.

MP: I like it when it all comes together. What inspires you the most?

EB: That’s real general.

MP: [laughing] What are some of the things that inspire you, how about that?

EB: Okay. I really can’t say what inspires me the most, because I’m inspired by just about everything. My feelings and relationships, my family, Scooby-Doo. A teacher’s opinion of my work. Everything. Not just one thing.

MP: What is it that makes you come most alive, makes you feel most alive?

EB: Water. Drinking it or submerging in it.

MP: What is it that makes you vulnerable?

EB: My art. Or the empty platform that my art will go on.

MP: What do you do with pain, emotional pain?

EB: Not one particular way. It depends on the severity of it. For the most part, I go with it. I let it happen.

MP: How do you keep your center? How do you stay grounded in the middle of chaos?

EB: I guess it’s the daily routine. I don’t have any particular thing I do ritualistically. I do the same thing every day. I get up. Drink a lot of water. Have a wheatgrass shot. Drink some green juice. Eat as healthy as I can. I’m not trying to win an award for being the best vegetarian, just want to be healthy. Take a salt bath. Do things that my parents were never able to do. I’m blessed to do anything I want so I decide to take the best care of my body and my family in the same way. Holistically. Vitally.

Image Courtesy of Kenneth Cappello

MP: How long have you been a vegetarian?

EB: Let’s see. I’m forty-one. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was nineteen. How many years is that?

MP: [laughing] That’s a long time.

EB: Yeah. I’ve been vegan-vegetarian for about the time my first album came out, so it was 1997. I eat like a vegan-vegetarian, more than anything.

MP: I just went blank. I’m very rarely ever nervous when I’m talking to somebody but I’m a little nervous now.

EB: Okay. Well, let’s stop for a minute. Let’s stop for a minute. Take a breath real quick, because I want you to ask your best questions. For clarity, come on

MP: Millions of people love you. You’re a very loved woman.

EB: [laughing]

MP: Do you have any wisdom or advice for women who may be in negative, unhealthy or abusive relationships? Do you have any wisdom for those women?

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